Calm
by kathleenrose747
Summary: (2k14verse) Donatello rescues a young woman from certain death. What is life like when she brings a new reason to his life? Language and situation warnings. Donatello/OC.
1. Fear Above, Protection Below

Title: Calm

Author: kathleenrose747

Pairing: Donatello/OC

Rating: T (Language and Situations)

Disclaimer: I have not, nor will ever, own anything relating to the TMNT franchise. I also do not own anything or references to the TMNT 2014 film by Michael Bay et. al. My sole property is my original characters, Pyra Kane and Johnny. And, in case no one already knew this, THIS FANFIC IS AU.

**Ch 1- Fear Above, Protection Below**

Donnie had pulled the short stick, yet again. As a result, he was on guard duty, prowling the sewers for any strays; cat, human, or other. He sighed and pushed his glasses up, taking a glance up at the storm drain over his head. As usual, human feet walked past and wheels rolled by, ignorant to the happenings below their city. _'As it should be.'_ Donnie thought as he turned towards Eighth Streets' 'Alley District', so named because of the interconnected back alleys and rear store entrances. This was where many robberies, stabbings, and other nefarious activities tended to take place. But he was not allowed to intercede unless someone's life was in jeopardy. Many times, the brothers were not near the area when the acts would go down, so the guilt was great whenever they saw something on the news. But tonight was different.

As he ducked under a low hanging sewage pipe, Donnie heard the squeal of tires above. _'Hello. What's this?'_ He pulled his bo-staff off his shell and held it in front of him as he jogged forward, following the car's sounds. Normally, he would not go chasing trouble like this, but he was bored. And with boredom, trouble tended to follow close behind.

"Where the fuck did that bitch go?" Donnie heard the voice over the squealing brakes and car doors slamming open and closed. He slowed down and crept forward to the nearest sewer drain. He then pulled out a mirror with a clamp attachment on the bottom that could be clipped onto his staff to look above and around corners. As he clipped the mirror in place, he briefly wondered if he should send out a signal to his brothers. _'Naw. Not until things start getting dicey.'_ He knew his brothers would get there in seconds if he did call. With the mirror in place, he leaned closer to the drain and angled the mirror to get a good look above. A man with greased black hair and motorcycle leathers was the first in view and he was speaking to someone out of Donnie's view.

"How hard did she hit you, man? Are we sure this is worth your battered pride?"

"You asshole! This isn't about her lashing out at me. She needs to learn her damn place like any other whore." A younger man with blond highlights in his already light brown hair walked into view to talk to the black haired man. "Besides, she can't go far. Everything she owns is back at the House. Let's go. She'll come crawling back eventually."

"Right, Johnny. You heard the boss, boys. Back to base!" The brunette walked out of sight and Donnie heard the rev of a motorcycle engine as five other men clamored into a white van and followed behind him. Donnie moved the mirror from the drain and mulled over the information. Clearly there was a young lady who was currently in trouble. It sounded like she was able to get away from the maniacs, however, so Donnie wasn't too concerned. _'But why did they call the base of operations The House? I'll have to do a run down on it through the database.'_ He pocketed the mirror and put the staff back over his shell.

Donnie continued down the sewer, keeping an ear out for any errant sounds. After an hour and a half of wandering around, he stopped beneath Bellevue Hospital Center's main drainage pipe before paging back to the lair.

"Hey Donnie. What's up?" Mikey answered on the first ring.

"Are you still watching cat videos on my monitors?"

"Uh… noooo." Donnie heard clattering in the background before Michelangelo cleared his voice, trying to sound more professional. "Where you at, bro?"

"Under Bellevue, currently. I was going to start making my way back. Are the others there?"

"Yep. What happened?" Donnie heard Leo say in the background.

"It may be nothing, but I figured I would let you in on what I came across." Donnie filled his brothers in on the whole situation he had heard and seen earlier that evening. After Raph promised he would start the search, Donnie closed the connection and started heading back. Before he had taken ten steps, however, he heard a groan of pain to his left. The staff was off his back and in his hands in a second as he stepped towards the sound. He soon realized that the problem was bigger than he originally thought.

Directly in front of him, a young lady was sprawled out on the ground. Her red hair fanned out around her, blending in with the blood that seeped from an open head wound. He looked up to confirm that there was a manhole cover right above where the young woman had fallen. Or had she been dumped there to die? It was fortunate that he had found her by Bellevue, as he could just pop her back out in front of the ER where someone could find her. But as he turned her over, the girl's eyes opened a fraction of an inch. Donnie froze, terrified that he had been seen.

"Please… don't… leave me." the girl reached out for Donnie, fear cracking her voice. Donnie hesitated before he reached out and took the girl's hand. She relaxed considerably. "Thank you…" She closed her eyes again and let her head fall back. "Took a fall… need help…"

"We're by Bellevue. Can I get you back up there?" Donnie asked.

"No… they'll call my next of kin…" The girl coughed and blood splattered on Donnie's leg. "He did this… can't go back…" The girl's energy was spent and she passed out, still clutching Donnie's hand.

'_Great. Now we got a bad guy out there beating women up and I get stuck with one who refuses medical attention.' _Donnie groaned as he looked down at the girl. _'Well, Don. You always wanted to be the hero. Here's your chance.'_ He scooped her up as he paged back to the lair. While he knew Father would be displeased that another human would know of their existence, he knew it was against his and his brothers personal code of honor to leave a person behind who asked for help. _'Don't let me regret this.'_ he thought as he took the shortcut to the family's lair.

_**Later**_

The girl began to wake up, alerting the brothers with her slight movements. Donnie turned from the monitors, holding his breath.

"Well. Let's hope she doesn't pass out like April did." Mikey joked from the med-bay.

"This isn't a time to joke, numb nuts." Raph shot back. "We are taking a huge risk here to let another human see us. Why couldn't you drop her at the hospital again?"

"Like he told you a thousand times," Leo cut in "They would have called her next of kin who, according to Donnie, was the one that who hurt her. We swore we would never harm an innocent through our actions or inactions." Leo patted Donnie on his shell. "I feel he made a good call in a difficult situation."

"Thanks Leo." Donnie nodded to his brother. He then stood to stand by Mikey. The brothers formed a loose U shape around the girl leaving and open spot for their father, whenever he decided to come back with the soup.

"Ugh…" The girl groaned and tried to sit up.

"Not so fast." Donnie put a hand on the girl and eased her back down on the mattress. "You have a concussion. You can't sit up quite yet."

"Where… where am I?" The girl tried to open her eyes, but promptly squeezed them shut against the glare of the medical lamp shining in her eyes. "Could we turn off the mood lighting? Got a headache over here."

"Quick wit. Sounds like she isn't too messed up." Leo laughed as he reached over and turned the switch off.

"Sorry, sweet cheeks. We had to make sure you didn't have any permanent brain damage." Mikey joked. "But something tells me we may have just made that worse."

"What medical school did you all go to? Didn't they teach you to have low lights around concussed people?" The girl was still rubbing her eyes, only prolonging the inevitable reveal.

"Sadly, only one of us has any medical training beyond basic first aid. But I think he did a very good job considering our limited resources." Raph grunted out.

"Wait…" The girl sniffed the air, nose wrinkling in disgust. "Am I still in the sewers?"

"Yes. You told me not to drop you off at a hospital." Donnie looked over at the girls vitals running on one of the monitors. "This was the best we could do in this circumstance." He reached over for a vial of morphine and a syringe. As he turned back, he looked down to see the girl looking up at him. _'Aw crap. Here we go.'_

"I know your voice…" The girl blinked a few times, trying to focus her vision. "You found me, didn't you?"

"Um… yes." Donnie mumbled, trying to avoid the girl's gaze. When he looked back, her eyes were closed but she had a soft smile on her face.

"Well, thank you. Really. I was worried my… partner would find me if you left me at the hospital. I'm really grateful for your help." Her hand reached out towards Donnie's direction.

"It was nothing." Donnie met the girl's hand with his own and squeezed it. "How's your pain level?"

"Nothing a hangover cure couldn't fix." The girl chuckled. "On a pain scale, it's about a five. On the annoying scale, it's a ten."

"So a headache that hits in waves, huh?" Donnie tilted his head, pushing his glasses up in the process.

"Yep. Apt description, that." The girl tried opening her eyes again and winced. "Does anyone have a pair of sunglasses I could borrow? The television glare is still killing me."

"Hang on a sec, girl." Mikey plucked a pair of sunglasses off his necklace to hand the girl. "Here you are, m'lady."

"I thank you, good sir." the girl joked back, adding a slight nod of her head. As she slipped the glasses on, the brothers held their breaths, waiting for the inevitable.

"That's better." She tilted her head back and the guys could tell the second she had opened her eyes, despite the dark tint on the glasses. Her head tilted and she got very quiet. After a tense few seconds and a few glances around the room, she cleared her throat. "Um… how hard did I hit my head?"

"Hard enough to need stitches." Donnie answered. "But not hard enough to elicit hallucinations." He sighed as he turned back to the monitor. Yep. This had been a bad idea.

"So… wait. Before my brain explodes in another pain wave, I need answers."

"We'll do our best." Leo answered. "But don't expect to get too much out of us. After all, we don't know if we can trust you."

"Fair enough. Can I be blunt with my questions?"

"It'd be preferable to beating around the proverbial bush." Raph said before Mikey elbowed him.

"Okay. Science experiment gone wrong or aliens?" the girl asked. Donnie rolled his eyes, wondering why aliens always topped this list.

"Science experiment. Though I wouldn't say it went wrong." Leo smiled. "Gotta say, I'm at least happy with the life I've been given, but I can't speak for my brothers."

"Alright. So you're siblings?" The teens nodded in reply. "Do you have parents?"

"They only have one, but by no means of a biological nature." The girl slowly sat up to look at who had spoken. Splinter stood at the edge of the mattress with a bowl of soup in his hands. "I did not mean to intrude on your discussion, but I thought some food might be in order, my dear."

"Thank you very much...uh...sir." The girl held out her hands and accepted the food with a small bow of her head. "I didn't realise how hungry I was until I smelled food."

"That's always the case with concussions, my dear." Splinter turned to his sons and motioned behind him. "I also brought pizza, if anyone else is hungry. I felt we may want to eat in here to get to know our guest."

"Woohoo! I call dibs!" Mikey whooped as he jumped over some medical equipment towards the food, brothers closely behind him. Splinter chuckled.

"Boys will be boys." He said as he took a seat to the left of the girl.

"They remind me of my cousins. They always used to fight over food that way as well." The girl smiled as she took a sip of her soup.

"Hey, babe. I got you a piece, if you feel like you can handle it." Mikey came back and set a piece of pizza on a plate next to the girl as he plopped down to her right.

"Thank you. I can't turn down good Italian food." the girl smiled as she ripped off a piece of crust and dipped it in her soup.

"Aw. That's almost criminal, what you just did." Donnie groaned, taking a seat next to his father, Raph sitting on his right. Leo remained standing, leaning on the cardiac monitor to eat his food. "You know you can take off the glasses now. I'm sure your pupils have dilated enough to handle the light." Donnie remarked.

"I… um… I would rather leave them on, thank you." The girl fiddled with her spoon, trying to avoid looking up.

"Wait. Before we get any further in this conversation, do you have a name?" Leo spoke through a mouthful of food, earning him a glare from Master Splinter.

"Pyra. Greek for fire." she smiled as she pointed her lineage out. "May I throw the question back at you?"

"You can." Leo nodded. "I'm Leonardo. The orange one to your right is Michelangelo, red is Raphael, your rescuer in purple in Donatello, and our sensei rat father is Splinter."

"Nice to meet you all." Pyra nodded to each in turn. "Renaissance painters, huh?"

"Not our choice." Raph grunted. "Now, about the glasses…"

"Dude, if she isn't comfortable, don't push it." Donnie elbowed his brother, eliciting a giggle out of Pyra.

"You guys really are brothers." She spoke through her giggles. After her laughter subsided, she sighed. "I guess this is the least judgemental place to bring up my… issue."

"You don't have to if you don't want to." Donnie reiterated.

"If we're going to remain friends, I don't want to strike you as someone who runs and hides from issues like this." she sighed and took off the glasses, blinking in the dim light. It took the brothers a couple seconds to see what she was talking about, but when they did it stunned them to silence.

"What is that?" Leo whispered.

"Sectoral heterochromia iridium compounded by incomplete albinism." Pyra chuckled. "By the way, the red hair is dyed. I'm naturally silver, thanks to the albinism."

"Chédiak-Higashi syndrome." Donnie whispered. The girl nodded.

"Okay, now that you two are done talking nerdy to each other, what is with the two colored eyes?" Mikey piped up.

"Normally, I wear brown contacts. But I had to get away from a… sticky situation and left them back at my place. I was just born with this issue." The girl tugged at the blanket trying to avoid direct eye contact with anyone.

"Would you mind if I took a closer look?" Donnie reached up for a retina scope. Pyra placed her bowl of soup to the side and scooted closer to get examined. Her right eye was uniformly green while the left appeared to be split in two; half sapphire, half violet. The violet was the external factor of the incomplete albinism she had spoken of while the split was the result of the sectoral heterochromia. "This is amazing. I can tell you got surgery. Cataracts?"

"Indeed. At two years old. I'm impressed you can tell." Pyra leaned back to look at Donnie. "Most doctors have to ask me about my full medical history to get that information." She smiled at him, causing the turtle to look away and blush.

"It's nothing, really." He mumbled as he pushed his glasses up. Pyra noticed his bashfulness and decided to turn back to her food. Once she finished it up, she brushed crumbs off her shirt and sighed.

"Well, sadly, I think I have to head back to Hell." she sighed and pulled her knees under her.

"Why would you call it that, sweet cheeks?" Mikey held out a hand to help her up.

"Because that's what it is. Plain and simple. If you're any kind of woman, you get used. Any type of man, you get played."

"What kind of place is this?" Donnie looked up from the map on his computer.

"No. I'm not telling you where it is. This place is too fucked up for nice guys like you." she turned to try and head out, only to realise she had no idea where she was going. She sighed and turned around. "Fine. One of you can help. Only one."

"Donnie. You go with her." Leo threw his brothers bo-staff at him, which Donnie caught easily. "She seems to get along with you."

"Nerds should stick together." Pyra stuck the tip of her tongue out in a joking manner. She then turned seriously and bowed towards Splinter. "Thank you again for letting me come here. Your secret is safe with me."

"If that is the case Ms. Pyra," Splinter smiled, "I would like to extend an open invitation for you to visit whenever you wish."

"I would like that." Pyra smiled as she turned to Donnie. "Well. Shall we?" Donnie nodded and pointed to the left sewer pipe, letting her lead the way.

"Why'd you send Donnie with my dream girl, man!" Mikey playfully shoved Leo to make a point.

"Did you see how Donnie looked at her, man?" Leo laughed. "About time he got a shot at some happiness. He's earned it." Mikey groaned and whined, but Splinter knew it was an act. As he shook his head at Michelangelo's antics, he had to wonder how the wandering pair were getting along.

**Meanwhile**

"... So I'm a good representative of why genetic manipulation is a horrible idea." Pyra kicked a can ahead of her. "My dad wanted a blue eyed child and my mom wanted green eyes. The geneticist who said he could create their dream child brought all this about."

"Not much of a geneticist, if you want my professional opinion." Donnie facepalmed himself once the comment slipped out. "I mean… you turned out… well… he didn't screw up... in a horrible manner of speaking…" Pyra laughed and rested her hand on Donnie's arm to calm his stuttering.

"I get what you're trying to say and it's sweet of you to say so." Pyra pulled her hand away and looked up ahead. "Did you say this was Third and Twenty-Sixth?"

"Yep. Just below Mad Hatter Saloon, like you asked." Donnie stopped below the manhole cover. "Do you need a boost?"

"Probably will. Don't want to risk straining myself." Pyra turned back to look at Donnie. "Thanks again."

"For what?"

"Being more human than some people. Most people would have left me to die. You saved me from a bad situation and trusted me to keep you all 'out of sight, out of mind', as it were."

"And here I am, throwing you back to the wolves." Donnie mumbled. Pyra shook her head.

"I'm a big girl. I've been able to take care of myself so far. But I may ask for help later."

"I'm on patrol tomorrow evening. I'll make sure to pass by the storm drain in front of Tonic East at 23:35. Er… 11:35 at night. If you want to talk." Donatello then knelt down and cupped his hands to give Pyra a boost up.

Pyra put her right foot in Donnie's hand. "Before you boost me up…" She leaned down and gave him a quick kiss on top of his head. "Just my small way of saying thanks." Donnie worked through his shock to get her up and out of the sewers. With a quick wave she shut the cover behind her.

'_Did she just…?'_ Donnie shook off the fog to follow the sound of her footsteps to make sure she got to her location alright. She had refused to let him drop her off at her actual location, but she had agreed to a two block radius drop off. After a quick jaunt two blocks north, Donnie looked out the storm drain to see Pyra shimmy up a gutter spout and swing into a window near the top. It was an apartment above a notorious night/strip club that had a hand in 'backroom dealings'. _'That's why she didn't want us to know where she lived. Shit. She could be two timing us.'_ Donnie brought up his vocal radar to see if Pyra was speaking to anyone. As he tuned into the right frequency, things got bad, fast.

"Where the fuck were you, bitch?" Donnie recognized the voice as that of the brunette male he had seen earlier.

"I didn't know I had to tell you my whereabouts, Johnny." Pyra shot back. A sharp noise that sounded like a slap rang through Donnie's ears.

"Watch your tongue, whore!"

"You better watch yourself, Johnny. Don't want to bruise the merchandise now, do we?" Pyra said, ruefully.

"Grr… so where the hell were you?"

"Got stitches at Bellevue. Check my head if you don't believe me. Oh wait. You would know where you kicked me, wouldn't you?"

"Funny. I didn't get a call from them."

"I'm eighteen, asshole. They don't need to call my damn guardians anymore. I was able to walk out on my own, granted that the doctor didn't want me to. At least someone cared about my well being outside of earning money."

"Enough. You're past your hours anyways. Time for the naughty girl to go to bed without dinner." Pounding footsteps and the slamming of a door followed the statement, closely followed by the scrape of a key in the lock. A minute later, Donnie watched a bodyguard come out the front entrance and go to stand under the fire escape below Pyra's window.

'_Well, damn it. Guess we have to leave her to her own devices.'_ Donnie reluctantly turned off the vocal radar and jogged back towards the lair to let his brothers and Sensei in on the new information.

**End Ch. 1**


	2. Fight or Flight

Title: Calm

Author: kathleenrose747

Pairing: Donatello/OC

Rating: T (Language)

Disclaimer: I have not, nor will ever, own anything relating to the TMNT franchise. I also do not own anything or references to the TMNT 2014 film by Michael Bay et. al. My sole property is my original character, Pyra Kane and Johnny. And, in case no one already knew this, THIS FANFIC IS AU.

**Ch. 2- Fight or Flight**

Pyra lay on her bed, shaking in fear. She was scared to go downstairs and face Johnny and his damn goons. _'Dad was right. I'm all talk and no walk.'_ She shook her head and rolled onto her back.

Now that she knew she had a place to run to, she had to be very careful about when she went out. The girls were normally allowed out during the day, but with Pyra's recent display of 'moxie', she would be looking at a week on lockdown. This week was going to be the longest week of her life. She had to get back to her underground family, as she had gotten to calling them. Last night, she had taken a smoking break across the street to sit next to the storm drain. She had ended up talking to Raphael for a few minutes before she got yelled at to get back inside. It was comforting knowing there was someone looking out for her each night.

Tonight, Donnie was supposed to be on patrol. Why that calmed Pyra down was a mystery to her. Perhaps because she had found a kindred nerd spirit to talk to. That, and she was grateful to the turtle for taking a chance on her and saving her life. As she ran through her options, she heard a knock on her door.

"C'mon, hon. Time to go downstairs." One of the other girls yelled through the door.

"On my way." Pyra had already put on her layers of makeup. As she sat up, she fluffed her hair and tried to pull her skirt down for a modicum of modesty. Giving up on that endeavor, she opened her door, closed and locked it before heading downstairs to the stage. The room only had two people, but the rule of the place stayed the same: 'Even if there is only one person, dance like the room is full.' Seeing as it was only nine o'clock, Pyra knew she had a long two and a half hour wait for her smoking break. _'Oh well. Time to work.'_ she thought ruefully as she hopped up on stage.

**Later**

Donnie paced below the storm drain. It was two minutes past the appointed meeting time and he had to get moving if he was to get back in time for training. As he turned to head back, he heard the jingle of the door to the establishment. He looked up to see Pyra walking purposefully across the street in a short jean skirt, black fishnets, and red high heels. She held a black jacket closed against the cold air and fished a cigarette out of one of the pockets. _'Woah. I know she's on the job… but still...' _Donnie almost didn't hear Pyra speak his name as she sat on the sidewalk above him.

"Yep, I'm here. Are you doing okay?" he asked.

"A few bumps and bruises, but I'm okay." Pyra chuckled as she took a drag from her cigarette.

"How badly?"

"Do you want to see?"

"Hang on. I have a mirror. Far less conspicuous than you leaning down to look in a storm drain."

"Yeah. You never know who is watching." Pyra scooted closer so that the streetlamp illuminated her face better. "I'll keep looking forward. I don't know how long a break I have and I want to keep an eye on the joint." Donnie clamped the mirror onto his staff and pushed it out the storm drain, angling it up to look at Pyra. His stomach turned when he saw her left eye swollen shut and a clearly swollen lip. She had covered it well enough with her bangs and makeup, but Donnie had spent a lot of years treating his brothers injuries. So he knew what to look for.

"Johnny?" Pyra nodded in acknowledgement.

"Him and a client. Got one of the sickos this time." Pyra took a drag of her cigarette and then put it out on the street. "I'm on lockdown for five more days and then I can go out during the day again. Unless I do something drastic."

"Like what?"

"Like fake my death. They toss us out into the East River, by Crows Nest, if we die on the job. They have their hands down the pants of so many cops here that no one even bothers to release press statements on the bodies." Pyra sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "If only there was some magic sleeping potion to get me out of this mess."

"There may be a way. But I have to talk to Sensei about it, first. Do you trust me?" Donnie wasn't just asking that from a friend perspective. It was also for his ego.

"Of course I trust you. I'm sitting here talking to you about it, right?" Pyra looked down at the mirror and smiled, causing Donnie's heart to skip a beat.

"Okay. Head on back inside before they get suspicious. I'll get the plan in motion. Same time tomorrow?"

"As close to it as I can." Pyra lowered her hand down to the drain for Donnie to grab. "Take care of yourself." she said, before standing to walk towards the business.

"You too." Donnie whispered as he watched her walk away. _'Alright, Donnie. Time to get what we need. We can't let her down.'_ he thought to himself as he took off towards the lair. He only hoped Sensei would allow the young woman to stay with them.

**Later**

"You want to do what?" Raph growled at his brother. Donnie stood facing Splinter, ignoring his brother's words.

"We would be taking a very big risk, my son." Splinter paced nervously. "But at the same time, we know she is in a far worse situation than we anticipated."

"So bringing her here would be safer?" Leo said. "How is that possible? We could just be leading this Johnny guy to our home. I don't want another Shredder incident on our hands."

"Neither do I. My vote is 'hell no'." Raphael spit out.

"I don't recall this being a democratic decision, Raph." Donnie glared at his brother, daring him to do something. Raphael growled and took a step towards Donatello, fully intending to knock some sense into him.

"Guys, guys, guys!" Mikey stepped in the way of the impending fight, stupid grin still planted on his face. "Look. If we're so worried, why don't we give her a trial run?"

"What the hell do you…" Raph started but Splinter held up a paw for silence.

"Go on…" Splinter encouraged Michelangelo to speak.

"Okay… well, we could bring her here and see how she gets on with us. If it doesn't work, we could get her to a safer place." Here, Mikey turned to look at Donatello. "If we're really crazy, you could try that Truth Serum stuff on her to see if she's bringing any baddies down on us." Mikey bounced on his feet, smile in place that he had come up with such a brilliant plan.

"Mikey… that was, by far," Leonardo blinked at his brother, "... one of your smartest plans I've heard in awhile. I'm game to go with that plan." Leo pushed off the wall. "What do you think, Sensei?"

"I feel we can manage with that situation." Splinter turned to Donatello. "Is there anything you need from us to get the plan underway? This is technically your mission to control."

"I'll get everything in place. On my word, we go to Crows Nest to wait for the body drop. Raph, I need you to bring the defibrillator. Mikey, you'll have the med kit. Leo, you'll have the oxygen tank. If we get to her within the first four hours, she has an eighty percent survival rate."

"What the hell are you planning to do to her, dude?" Mikey stared at his brother.

"Simple." Donnie pushed his glasses up on his face, looking each of his brothers in their eyes. "I'm going to poison her with tetrodotoxin. Fakes the symptoms of death and they will drop her right where we can get her. The only problem is that there is no antidote to the toxin. The only thing that helps is to drench the blood cells with oxygen and keeping artificial respirations active for as long as it takes until the victim can take deep breaths on their own."

"Shit, man. That's risky." Leonardo whistled. "Do you think she'll go for it?"

"She's terrified there, Leo." Donatello looked at his brother. "That kind of fear would motivate someone to desperate lengths if it meant they could get away." The brothers stood silently, assessing each other's resolve to go through with the plan. Raphael was the first to break the silence.

"If she's strong enough to do something that crazy, I guess I could help out." Raph turned and walked towards the training room to work out some of his frustrations. "Just give me the signal."

"Woohoo! We get to go rescue the princess from her tower!" Mikey whooped.

"Yeah well, your princess is in another castle, dude." Donnie nudged his brother playfully.

"Ow! Right in the heartstrings!" Mikey faked falling over. "It's not my fault April didn't know a good thing when she saw it." Donatello shook his head at his brother before walking to his lab. He had to get the proper mix of chemicals in an edible format so that Pyra could take her bitter poison.

'_I promised to watch after you. And I'm not one to break promises.'_ He thought as he settled in for a long night.

**Following Evening**

Pyra made her way across the street to the corner. She knew that someone would be watching from the drain, so she put on a brave face and tried not to limp. One of the jealous bitches had decided she was getting 'too close' to Johnny and had tripped her down the stairs that evening. _'Superficial little shits.'_ she thought as she sat down and lit up her cigarette.

"You know, that can't be good for your lungs." she heard Donnie say below her. She chuckled at his concern.

"Yeah, well, this place is full of bad vices." she knocked the ashes off the edge of her cigarette.

"I think he's trying to diplomatically say 'you might want to put that out so the rest of us can breathe'." Raphael stated.

"Huh. More than one of you tonight." Pyra quickly put out the burning stick. "What's the special occasion?"

"We all missed you, pretty lady." Mikey stated. "That, and Donnie has a great plan to get you out of here." Pyra let out a breath that she hadn't known she had been holding.

"Thank the gods." she lowered a hand down to the drain opening. "You guys really are my guardian angels."

"Hardly that." Donnie coughed. "Now listen carefully, we can only go through this once."

"All ears." Pyra then crouched over, looking to outsiders like she was trying to warm her legs while in fact she was leaning closer to hear the plan.

"Okay. Do you have designated trash days?"

"Collection is on Thursdays and Mondays. I take the trash to the dumpsters on Fridays after the club closes."

"Perfect. Tonight, take whatever you need down to the dumpster. You'll find a small box on the edge of it. That contains the compounds that will get you to Crow's Landing."

"That was the roundabout way of saying we're going to poison you and bring you back to life." Leonardo butted in.

"Um… okay." Pyra took a deep breath. "How much am I allowed to bring?"

"Just the things you can't live without." Leo said.

"Okay. My life is in kind of big plastic case. Will it prove hard to transport?"

"What kind of case are we talking here?" Mikey piped up.

"A compound bow case." Pyra stated. The boys looked at each other, confirming what they had heard.

"That brought up a lot of questions that need to be answered later." Donnie said as he attached his mirror to his staff. "Right now, you know the drill." Pyra sighed and scooted under the light. Things had gotten worse since the last meeting. Both eyes showed significant swelling while the edge of her nose showed slight flakes of blood.

"Shit. What are they doing to you?" Raphael whispered.

"Trying to set an example for the rest of the girls." Pyra laughed ruefully.

"So what's with the busted ankle?" Donnie muttered, tilting the mirror to look at the ankle.

"I was hoping you wouldn't see it. Another girl tripped me down the stairs. Jealousy for catching Johnny's eye."

"So any attention, no matter how violent, is wanted attention, coming from this fellow?" Raph said. "Can't we just rough him up a bit? I've been in need of a new punching bag."

"As kind as that sentiment is, I can't let you guys expose your secret on my account." Pyra moved her hand inside the drain. "Well, guys, I gotta go back in. We ready for this?" The turtles each shook her hand in turn, Donnie holding on a second longer than the others. Pyra squeezed his hand and pulled back before she stood. This time, she didn't hide her limp as she walked back across the road, the bouncer holding open the door for her.

"Alright, boys. Let's move." Leonardo pointed down the sewer and the turtles split up: Raph, Leo, and Donnie heading towards the docks by Crow's Landing and Mikey heading towards the manhole cover next to the dumpster to wait to collect Pyra's things and leave her the small box. Since he had the skateboard, the group figured he would have less of a problem dropping the girl's stuff off, getting the med kit, and meeting them at the docks before drop off.

'_I really hope this works.'_ Donnie thought as he slid through the tunnels. _'Otherwise, my shell is on the line for screwing this up.'_ Leo looked over and saw his brother deep in thought.

"Relax, man. We got this." He threw his brother a thumbs up before ducking under a pipe.

"I really hope so." Donnie whispered. He could smell water up ahead. _'Now the waiting game begins.'_

**End Ch. 2**


	3. Prayers to a Faceless God

Title: Calm

Author: kathleenrose747

Pairing: Donatello/OC

Rating: T (Language)

Disclaimer: I have not, nor will ever, own anything relating to the TMNT franchise. I also do not own anything or references to the TMNT 2014 film by Michael Bay et. al. My sole property is my original character, Pyra Kane. And, in case no one already knew this, THIS FANFIC IS AU.

**Ch. 3- Prayers to the Faceless Gods.**

Pyra went room to room, collecting the trash from its inhabitants. She then dragged the two giant, wheeled trash bins down the stairs, one by one. She had made sure to put her case inside one of the bins before she filled them up. This way, when she dumped them in the main dumpster, Michelangelo wouldn't have to go through too much trash to find her stuff. It was as efficient as she could get on such a short notice.

As she dragged the bins to the dumpster, she could see the bodyguard standing at the base of the emergency exit below her window. He looked up and nodded at her, going back to his phone conversation. Pyra nodded back and opened the gate to the main dumpster. She lifted up the heaviest bin first and pushed it up so that the contents (including her case) fell into the half full container. She was glad the padding blocked the noise of her heavy case, not that the guard looked like he cared so much.

As she finished dumping the remaining trash, she saw a flat gold box on the edge of the concrete barrier around the dumpster. _'Ah. That must be my sleeping potion.'_ She quickly grabbed the box and shoved it in her pocket before the guard got suspicious. She then exited the casing and headed back towards the apartments, emphasising her exhaustion so that the guard wouldn't question her. She deposited the bins by the door and ran up the stairs. She only had a few minutes before Johnny would come by for his evening constitutional to check on each of the girls. Sometimes he did more than check on them, so Pyra really didn't know how much time she had. She got inside her room and shut the door, leaning against it to keep unwanted visitors out during her private moment.

She pulled the box out of her pocket and pried off the lid. Inside were five chocolates and a small note. She flipped the note over to see small, neat writing on the back:

_Just a small suggestion. The four corner chocolates contain tetrodotoxin. I can't do too much about the taste, so I left a sweeter chocolate in the middle to help. That one has a sleeping aid and gag suppressant to help knock you out and to lower the risk of vomiting. After you eat everything, drink a full glass of water to move the toxins through faster. Whatever you do, do not throw up. You have to keep the toxin in as long as you can. See you on the other side. D._

'_Eat everything, huh?'_ Pyra chuckled as she ripped up the note and put it in her mouth, swallowing each tiny piece. She then turned to the box. The only way she could get rid of it was by burning it in the fireplace in her room. The embers were still glowing, so she pulled out the chocolates and tossed the box in. After raking the ashes over to make sure nothing remained, she grabbed the glass of water by her bed and sat down. One by one she popped the bitter chocolates in her mouth, nibbling on the raspberry centered one to keep the bitterness at bay.

Her stomach flipped as she swallowed each bite, but she managed to keep it down. After finishing her glass of water, she lay down on the floor by the fireplace. She was so cold. And very nauseated. As she drifted off into a dizzying rest, she threw a prayer out to somebody, anybody, that she would wake up eventually.

**Later**

"Sit the hell down, Donnie. You're making us all nervous." Leonardo smacked his brother on his shell as he passed by for the millionth time.

"Can't exactly blame him, though." Mikey said. "If he screws up, the girl dies." Donnie groaned at Mikey's assertion.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, brother." Donnie turned to look at the sky over the river. It was two hours after Mikey had arrived, which meant a half hour after collection and drop off. So two and half hours in total since the plan had been put into motion. The first four hours made the most difference when it came to the poison in question. But Donnie was scared that so many things could go wrong in the meanwhile.

"Calm that panic in your eyes, Donnie. I think I hear something." Raphael leaned out the drainage pipe and tilted his head up. Sure enough, multiple lights soon appeared over the river.

"Keep quiet. And remember, do not collect her body until we know for sure every car is gone." Leonardo whispered.

"Uh… small problem there, Leo." Donatello pointed out to the water. "Did you forget she could drown if we don't get to her body in time?"

"Oh. Right." Leonardo facepalmed himself. "Okay. Slight change in plans. You still have that rappelling gun, Donnie?"

"Already three steps ahead of you, bro." Donnie pulled out the gun from a side pouch he had on him. "I hope she can forgive me if she gets hit by this."

"I think she'll be more forgiving if she's alive to forgive you." Raph grunted. "Wounds heal. Poisons run their course. Death is permanent."

"Woah. Rather poetic of you, brah." Mikey said. "Been reading Robert Frost again?"

"Shut up, Mikey!" the three brothers hissed back at him. He threw his hands up with a slight grin on his face. The teens sobered up quickly when they heard a mans voice just above their location.

"Lovely morning for a drop-off, huh, man?" a gruff Irish voice sounded over the silence of the morning.

"Just shut up and lets get this bitch in the water. I'm exhausted." a younger sounding voice replied. A laugh was the only reply to his response as the sound of a door opened. "Damn, she's a lightweight. Are you sure she'll sink?"

"Who cares if she sinks? We've got the cops in our damn pockets. We tell them to keep mum about this and they will."

"How'd she die, anyways?"

"Sounds like one of her clients was into strangulation. At least that's what Johnny told me."

"Who says he didn't do it?"

"And if he did?" The Irish voice coughed and the teens could hear a dragging sound. "We don't ask questions. Just take the money, do the work, and leave." Suddenly, a white body bag was unceremoniously dropped from above and landed with a heavy smack in the water. Donatello timed the rappelling gun fire to coincide with the slamming of the car doors to minimize detection. Once the body was out of the water, they loaded it onto a mobile stretcher and began moving towards the lair. Donnie then unzipped the top of the bag to confirm his suspicions.

"Yep. It's her." Donatello's heart began to hurt as he looked at the pale, immobile face of someone he had just spoken to moments before. Someone who had said she trusted him from the start. _'Please. Don't let her faith be falsely placed.'_ He took a deep breath and started the clinical process of toxin dispersal.

"Help me turn her on her side, Leo. I need to get any residual water out of her lungs." After the water was drained, Donnie turned on the oxygen and strapped the mask into place over Pyra's nose and mouth. "Alright. Raph, can you do chest compressions on the move?"

"Not much of a choice, there." Raphael relented and started the compressions, keeping up with his brothers as they ran through the sewers.

"Wait. Why are we doing chest compressions if she has a heart rate?" Leonardo yelled over the clatter of stretcher wheels.

"We're keeping her blood pressure up so her heart can beat harder on its own. Once we get her to the med-bay, I'll hook her up to the ventilator and check her vitals." Donnie dropped his scanner over his eyes to check over Pyra's vitals on the go. "Shit. Guys! Her BP is dropping. 102 over 68!"

"What's normal?" Leonardo said as they rolled into the med-bay.

"120 over 80 is normal, with a variation of ten above or ten below being an acceptable range." They stopped in the med-bay and moved her to the small mattress, surrounded by monitors. After inserting the endotracheal tube and checking her vitals, Donatello pronounced that, while she was not out of the woods, Pyra was going to be okay.

"How is the young lady?" Splinter walked in, hands folded in front as he surveyed his exhausted sons.

"BP is 118/75. Not perfect, but acceptable." Donatello took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

"Get some rest, Donnie. I'll take first shift." Leonardo grabbed a chair and pulled it up next to the girl.

"I'm not going to sleep, but I'll try to distract my brain for a bit."

"If you need a distraction, I'm game for a fight!" Mikey volunteered.

"Yeah. Sparring might actually help me out." Donnie looked over the equipment one more time before following his bouncing brother into the other room. How Mikey had so much energy to spare was mind boggling at times. _'I really need to tell him to cut back on the sodas.'_

**Two hours later**

'_Okay. That was very much needed.'_ Donnie thought to himself as he rolled out his shoulder. Mikey had beaten him properly, but not without walking away with a few bruises of his own. Only with brothers could you beat them up and laugh about it later.

Donnie turned the corner and saw Leonardo still in the same place, looking at the girl intently.

"You know. Staring at her isn't going to wake her up, right?" Donnie joked as he took the two steps to the med bay.

"You told me to keep an eye on her. Figured I'd keep two just to be safe." Leo chuckled and rubbed his eyes. "I don't understand any of this technology stuff. So I just watched to see if her eyes twitched or anything."

"Well, it's partially my fault. I gave her a mix of sedatives and tetrodotoxin. At best she'll wake up tomorrow. Hopefully, within a week. At worst…" Here, Donnie's voice trailed off as he checked the level of the saline solution. "At worst, she'll be one more person we failed to save."

"Not going to happen, bro." Leo stood up to pat his brother on his shell. "She may look tiny, but so is TNT. She'll pull through. Besides, we need someone else to save us from Mikey's antics from time to time."

"If she wants to stay." Donnie nodded to his brother as he took a seat in front of the monitors. "Go get some food, Leo."

"Right on. Keep us updated." Leo threw a wave over his shoulder before slipping into the shadows. Donatello leaned back to look over the monitors that showed various levels of the sewers and subways systems. He threw a quick look over at the limp form on the mattress behind him. Partially to reassure himself she was still there.

'_This is going to be a long wait...'_

**Eight Days Later**

"Face it, Donnie. We're going to have to do it eventually." Raphael leaned against the entrance to the med bay, glaring at his thick headed brother.

"And I say we need to delay it a little longer. A tracheotomy requires a sterile environment. And I'm sorry, but no matter how much we clean up, we're still in a sewer." Donnie was this close to punching something or someone if the issue kept getting pressed. Yes, he knew that an endotracheal tube was only for temporary results, but he wanted to avoid surgery at all cost. On the other hand, his brothers were right. They were nearing the two week mark with Pyra's medical situation and a more long term ventilation option had to be considered. But Donnie needed a clear head before he decided what to do.

"Look… I'll figure out what is medically viable in our situation. Check back with me in an hour." As the brothers left, he turned back to the monitors to note Pyra's respirations and heart rate. She had been stable the last few days but had still not opened her eyes. Almost like 'Sleeping Beauty' syndrome. He sighed and turned to her compound bow case. Mikey had had the smart idea to open it to see if anything in there could help Pyra in her situation. Inside had been some clothes, tennis shoes, an iPod, and her compound bow with arrows. Donnie had set up the music on 'shuffle' to see if the songs might trigger her to wake up. As it stood, she had twitched slightly at some songs, but nothing that gave too much hope to the idea.

Currently, it was cycling through a bunch of Celtic Woman songs. Her iPod had hopped through a so many ranges of songs and genres that Donnie had to conclude she had amassed a lot of the songs through various stages of her life. He sighed and looked over at the girl. _'C'mon. You're not just scaring me, you know. We're all worried.'_ He sighed and sat back in his chair, cradling his head in his hands. To say he was stressed was a bit of an understatement. The last eight days had seen him on the edge of a knife. And now it came down to this medical decision that could save Pyra or doom her.

"You look freaked out, man." Leonardo spoke from the doorway.

"Tell me about it." Donnie let out a breath and looked at his brother.

"Why are you so worried? You even said it would take a long time to get the toxin out of her system."

"I wasn't thinking this far out. And with what Raph said…" Donnie growled and lowered his head back in his hands. "I really do not want to risk infection. Especially with her throat. It's a gateway to the health of the rest of the body."

"Yeah. I can tell you really care about her." Leo smiled at his brother.

"That's not… it's medically… what about her... " Donnie spluttered, panic slightly widening his eyes.

"Just admit it, dude. There was something about her. From day one you've had her in some corner of your brain." Leonardo stepped into the med-bay, smiling as his brother turned red. "At least admit it to yourself that you think she's cute."

"Well…" Donnie sighed and looked over at Leo with a sheepish grin. "I could say that. For a different species from myself, she's pretty cute."

"Glad you could finally admit it." Leo's grin widened at the admission. "Now I have a question that is not for you." Donnie tilted his head at his brother, trying to get his weird meaning. Leo then looked over Donnie's shoulder with a soft smile.

"How long have you been awake?"

Donnie froze when he considered who his brother was talking to. He turned to see two colored eyes looking up at him, a slight crinkle of a smile on her face, despite the tube in her throat. _'Shitshitshit! Please tell me she didn't hear me!' _Donnie prayed to whoever would hear him.

But, then again, he was just glad the plan had worked. He was also happy she was alive.

Very happy.

**End Ch. 3**


	4. Luck Had Nothing To Do With This

Title: Calm

Author: kathleenrose747

Pairing: Donatello/OC

Rating: T (Language, Violence)

Disclaimer: I have not, nor will ever, own anything relating to the TMNT franchise. I also do not own anything or references to the TMNT 2014 film by Michael Bay et. al. My sole property is my original characters, Pyra Kane and Johnny. And, in case no one already knew this, THIS FANFIC IS AU.

**Ch. 4- Luck Had Nothing To Do With This**

After the endotracheal tube was pulled from Pyra's throat, everyone gathered around to check on the poor girl.

"So what was it like being dead?" Michelangelo asked jokingly. Pyra started to chuckle but her laughter quickly turned into body shaking coughs. Panic gripped Donatello's heart as he rubbed her back to try and calm her.

"I think it's too soon for you to make any sounds. Your gag reflex is still very dry from the tube, so we may need to find another way for you to communicate." Pyra tried to protest but again she began to cough.

"She doesn't take directions well, does she?" Raph shook his head at the girl's stubbornness.

"Look's like she'll fit in well here, if that is the case." Splinter looked over at his son, reminding him of his place.

Pyra sat quietly, biting to corner of her lip as she tried to think of a solution for her situation. She then looked over at Donatello and made a motion for a laptop. Once he handed it to her, she pulled up a chat log and typed a note in it, turning the screen for Donnie to see. He smiled and grabbed a cord to plug the laptop into one of the main monitors. Moments later, her message popped up on the screen for everyone to read: _Any way we could make this live?_

"Nice thinking, Pyra." Mikey held out a hand for the girl to slap, which she did with a smile on her face.

"You okay to answer some questions on your condition?" Donnie asked as he took a seat by the monitors.

_Yep._

"Any pain anywhere?" Pyra moved her limbs to test the theory.

_My right hip is a little tender. And my left shoulder aches. Beyond that, I just feel weak._

"Sounds about right." Leo nodded. "You hit the water right side first, so it makes sense your right hip would hurt."

_Huh. So they bought it?_

"On the surface, that's what it looks like." Raph said as he turned towards the kitchen. "Hey, Donnie. Do you think she could do soup?"

"A small amount, but I think broth would be okay." Donnie looked over at Pyra. "You do need to eat. It's been eight days."

_Good. I'm starving._ Pyra smiled up at him. Donnie knew she was lying to make him feel better, but it did help.

"Hope you don't mind that we opened your case, but we thought there may be something in there to help your recovery. Did the music help?" Mikey rocked from foot to foot, waiting for the girl to get mad at him for going through her belongings. He was rewarded with a big smile and quick typing.

_It's totally okay. Not like I had a lot to go through. Thank you for thinking of the music. Hope my tastes were okay._

"I will say you have a really eclectic selection." Splinter smiled at the girl. "I didn't think you could pair Slipknot and Jewel in the same playlist."

_Must have been on shuffle._ Pyra shrugged in physical response. _So. What song marked my wake up time?_

"'Cry' by Faith Hill." Donnie shook his head. "Don't ask how I know."

_You had it on repeat. That's why I asked._

"Wait. How long were you awake?"

_Long enough to hear… things._ Pyra brought a hand up to her mouth to hide the smile on her face. But her eyes gave it away. Leo had to duck out of the room to get his laughter out over how red his brother's face had gotten.

"I think I missed something." Mikey looked back and forth between his brothers and Pyra.

"It was nothing." Donnie cleared his throat and looked up as Raphael came back in with a small cup of soup.

"I didn't want to risk giving her too much in one shot." Raph handed the cup to the girl. "Plus, it's easier to handle a cup then small silverware, in your state."

_Thank you. Really. I'm happy you thought of that for me._ Raphael shook his head and walked back to his post by the door. Pyra then blew on the soup to cool the contents before taking a sip. She grimaced as she swallowed, the warmth feeling like a burning fire in her raw throat.

"Too hot?" Donnie asked. Pyra shook her head.

_No. My throat is just too raw at the moment._

"Do we have any of that numbing spray leftover from when April was sick?" Leo asked.

"Maybe. I just hope it isn't expired." Donnie looked over at Mikey. "Should be right behind you in the red kit." Mikey opened the container and pulled out the purple numbing spray, tossing it to his brother. "Here you go. Not as good as the soup, but at least it will help." Pyra nodded and shook the bottle, promptly spraying it inside the back of her throat. Her face scrunched up as the bitter medicine hit its target.

_Bllegh! In a way, I wish it was expired._ she typed out as she adjusted to the slow numbness spreading through the back of her throat.

"Not terribly tasty, eh?" Leo asked.

_I've smelled dirty socks that probably tasted better than that._ Pyra took a deep breath through her nose, letting her breath out slowly through her mouth. _It's definitely fast acting though._ she typed as she took another tentative sip of soup. When no cough was forthcoming, she held a thumb up, signaling she was okay.

"So. What happened after we left you? I noticed you got a few new bruises." The room got quiet once Donnie's question was thrown out there.

_There was… a disagreement._ Pyra sighed. _Johnny thought I was spending too much time on my breaks and decided to try and get me to stop._ She froze as she was typing. She looked like she wanted to ask something, but she was afraid of the answer. She took a deep breath and finally typed, _Did you see my back?_

"Had to, in order to see if there was anything that cut you when you hit the water." Donnie adjusted his glasses. "So what did he use, exactly?"

_Classic cat o' nine tails. Sadistic bastard._ Pyra shook her head with a frown on her face. _Needless to say, I was quick to get the hell out of there. Only took the things that mattered."_

"And a compound bow was one of them?" Donnie looked at the girl quizzically. She shrugged with a small smile on her face.

_What can I say? I used to shoot when I was younger._

"So where were you from before you landed in this joint?" Raphael asked.

_My aunt raised me in the Bronx. I don't know how old I was when I went to live with her, but she was never totally supportive of my 'less-than-academic' dreams. _Pyra shook her head before continuing. _I can't complain. She got me out of a bad situation. She just wishes I hadn't turned into such a nerd._

"Hey. Nothing wrong with that." Donnie patted Pyra on her shoulder, coaxing a smile out of the girl. "What kind of stuff did you do?"

_After reading a bunch of Isaac Asimov stuff, I got really interested in robotics and robotic law. I have a cousin that goes to M.I.T. He used to Skype me a bunch of schematics and plans that were semi-kid friendly. Needless to say, my aunt didn't approve of a twelve year old learning how to weld in her garage._

"Oh, dear." Splinter shook his head in mock exasperation. "We have another Donatello on our hands." The brothers groaned in unison, prompting glares from Donnie in return. Pyra giggled before taking another sip of her soup.

"But that sounds fairly academically inclined." Donnie tilted his head in question. "Did she have an aversion to robots or something?"

_The problem was that I really wanted to go to the Juilliard school of Dance_. _We went on a school trip there when I was nine and I've always admired the modern dance work that they did there._ Pyra shook her head. _But we could never afford the tuition. So I just settled to learning from my friends and street performers._

"Fairly easy going childhood, then?" Leo asked.

_Yep. Nothing to complain about. No skeletons in my proverbial closet. Unless you count the time I ran away with Johnny, hoping for a better life._ A soft growl emitted from Pyra's throat as she typed. _Stupidstupidstupid. He's twenty years my senior and I honestly thought he could help me out. That was two years ago and I regret every minute that has passed in that man's presence._

"Why didn't you just go home? It's not like the Bronx is in Kansas." Raphael said from his corner.

_You think I didn't try? The first time I made it home, Johnny's goons broke in at night and took me back. I'm starting to doubt my aunt even cared._ Pyra shook her head, biting the inside of her cheek in the process. _Though, I am scared that I may have caused some problems for my aunt by leaving with you guys. Johnny could have interrogated her by now._

"We'll check on that for you." Leo said confidently. Before Pyra could type out a vehement 'no', he held up a hand to silence her. "Besides, if you're going to stick around, we may as well go grab your other things."

_I really couldn't impose. _Pyra typed out, pleading with her eyes. _I'll just find another place to stay._

"Such as?" Donnie glanced over at the girl, looking over his glasses in what he hoped was a professorial stare. When her hands froze over the keyboard for more than a few seconds, he nodded. "I thought so." He stood up and went to stand by Leo. "It's settled then. I guess you're staying here for awhile. We'll head over to the club and I'll check to make sure none of your stuff is bugged. One of us will also break off to check on your aunt."

_If you insist. _ Pyra sighed and rubbed her upper chest trying to relieve the tension there. A look of horror crossed over her face as a realization came crashing over her. _Did you guys find a locket in my case? Small gold oval on a chain?_

"Yep. Heard it rattling in the back of the case. It's on the table next to you." Mikey pointed at the necklace in question. Pyra quickly picked it up and clipped it around her neck. A deep sigh escaped her as she clutched the locket as if her life depended on it. A moment later she opened her eyes and fanned them with one hand, trying to keep tears back.

_Thank you. This locket is my life. If I lose it… I don't know what I would do._

"We didn't open it. We figured it was your story to tell when you feel ready." Leo said, stepping into the room. "You may want to get some rest. We will leave Master Splinter with you, in case you need anything."

_Thank you again. All of you. _Pyra looked at each of her rescuers in turn. _I owe you my life. I could only say 'thank you' for the rest of my life and it wouldn't be enough._

"You don't need to thank us." Donnie pried the laptop out of the girls hands before pulling the blanket back over her. "Just get some rest. We'll test your strength later and see if you're okay to walk." Pyra nodded and snuggled under the blanket. Her contented smile as she closed her eyes was thanks enough, in Donnie's mind. If he could stay and watch over her, he would.

But he had bigger fish to fry.

"C'mon, guys." Donatello grabbed his bo-staff and started walking towards the main exit. "Time to go pay Johnny-boy a little visit."

**End Ch. 4**


	5. Silver Haired Fox

Title: Calm

Author: kathleenrose747

Pairing: Donatello/OC

Rating: T (Language and Violence)

Disclaimer: I have not, nor will ever, own anything relating to the TMNT franchise. I also do not own anything or references to the TMNT 2014 film by Michael Bay et. al. My sole property is my original characters, Pyra Kane and Johnny. And, in case no one already knew this, THIS FANFIC IS AU.

**Ch. 5- Silver Haired Fox**

Donatello sat on the warm rooftop across from Pyra's aunt's house. He had arrived just in time to see two men in black jump into a white van and go speeding off towards New York proper. _'Great. Now I can get a closer look.'_ he thought as he lept over towards the building in question. At one o'clock in the morning, there was a very low risk of anyone seeing him.

He poked his head over the edge of the building to look into the only lit window. An older woman with short black and grey hair was sitting in a rocking chair, her head in her hands. Donatello could hear mumblings, but couldn't make out the words. He turned on his amplifier and adjusted the frequency to listen in on the woman's ramblings.

"Damn it, Pyr. What the fuck were you thinking? Spreading your legs like my fucking sister. I wanted so much better for you. Gave you everything you wanted. Isn't that how you're supposed to raise kids?" The woman let out a gruff bark of a laugh. A 'scritch' and deep inhale of breath indicated that she had lit a cigarette.

'_Now I know where Pyra picked that up from.' _Donnie rolled his eyes as he continued to listen to the woman's rant on her niece.

"I always told Mel that Brandon was going to make her life hell. And he sure did. Gave her a whore of a daughter to raise. And what the fuck does she do? Dumps your ass with me." The aunt took another drag of her cigarette. "Don't get me wrong, sweetie. I hope you're okay. But I'm also glad you're out of my damn hair. Hope you're someone else's problem now."

It took all of Donatello's restraint to keep himself from going in there and throttling Pyra's only known family member. He didn't know the whole story yet, so he could not lay judgment. The woman then decided to turn out the light and lay down on her bed. Donnie then sat back and played the short conversation back through his head. There was certainly some family drama that was for sure. But he wanted to get Pyra's side of the story before he made any snap judgments. He gathered himself up and steeled himself to meet with his brothers.

'_Hope they left me some fresh meat to kick around.'_ he thought grimly.

_**Meanwhile**_

"I told you to fucking deliver, asshole!" Johnny kicked open the back door to the club, walking out into the alley. "I don't give two shits if you saw her body go under. If I don't see the bloated corpse for myself, I ain't buying the dead hooker tale." He pulled the phone away from his ear to mimic the overly yappy person on the other end. He then put the phone back to his ear. "You fucking done? Because I am!" He then closed the phone pulling out a cigarette. He then began rifling through his skinny jean pockets to try and find his lighter.

"Need help, buddy?" Johnny turned towards the voice, but could only see a hulking shadow on the other side of the trash bins.

"Yeah, actually. I think one of my customers might have taken my lighter. Fucking dicks. Only thinking with one head. But at least it pays the bills."

"Yeah. I'm actually here to give you something back." The shadow then split into two and came closer to Johnny.

'_Fuck. Am I tripping or something?' _Johnny reached for his gun, but a sharp pain in his hand made him drop it. He looked down to see a line of blood dripping between his thumb and fore finger.

"What the hell do you want?" Johnny looked up to confront his accusers only to have his face slammed into the brick wall behind him.

"Well, for starters," A deep voice spoke into his left ear, "We're here to get some retribution for a client of ours."

"Who the fuck…" Before Johnny could get the whole sentence out, someone grabbed his hair to pull his head back, only to slam him back into the wall.

"Shut up and listen!" Another voice gruffly said in his other ear.

"Thanks, Raph. Now, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted." The other voice continued. "You see, we know what you've been doing here, Johnny. And we can't say we're altogether too pleased with your work ethics."

"You say 'we'. Who the hell are you guys?"

"Who indeed…" The voice chuckled. Johnny did not like being mocked and tried to kick backwards in the direction of the speaker. That strike earned him another slam into the wall. With a sickening 'crunch', he felt the bones in his nose give way to the pressure of three strikes to a wall. Johnny tried to scream, but his head was turned just so that any noises he made were absorbed by the brick.

"Oh darn. Did we break something? Oh well. Had to happen." Johnny then felt a heavy weight on his back as the voice then spoke directly into his ear. "We know about all those girl's you killed. And every single one of them will be avenged. Mark. My. Word."

"Like I fucking care!" Johnny tried to sound tough. But the ruse didn't work.

"I know you don't. But we've got someone here who does." Leo then stepped back, letting Raph hold the scumbag to the wall. He then looked up to see Donnie, who had finished wiping the security scans. "Remember. I said two hits. Don't want you killing the dude."

"Even though he deserves it?" Donatello tried to calm his breath, but seeing the jerk that had hurt Pyra was enough to turn him warm blooded. Leo laid a hand on his shoulder to calm him.

"Mikey's got everything he could get." Leo whispered in his brother's ear. "Knee and neck should be enough to keep the guy out of commission enough for us to get away. I trust you and Raph to book it as soon as he drops."

"We know how to do our jobs, bro." The rage in Donatello's eyes scared Leo, but he knew the cause of it. With a final pat on his brother's shoulder, he then turned and took off down the alley, following Mikey's trail.

Donnie took two deep breaths to calm his hands. He then looked at Raph. He was glad Leo had left him with Raph because his older brother wouldn't judge him for the amount of force he was planning to use.

Strike one: Solid hit behind the knees, causing Johnny to drop with a cry.

Strike two: Double handed jab just behind the left ear to knock the man out and ensure the headache from hell the next morning. He then threw in a final kick to the man's ribs for good measure before he and Raph took off running towards the nearest manhole cover.

"Only two strikes, huh?" Raph yelled as they dropped down into the sewers and kept running.

"Count that as two and a half." Donnie shouted back, getting a laugh out of his brother. As much as he hated admitting it, it had felt so good to beat that so called 'man' senseless.

And he couldn't wait to do it again.

_**Later**_

After enough running around to assure himself that they weren't being followed, Donnie signaled to Raph that they needed to head towards Bellevue to meet Leo and Mikey. He still had to check over Pyra's stuff to make sure Johnny hadn't put tracking devices on anything.

As they turned the corner to the designated meeting place, he could hear a rustling sound of paper being moved around.

"What the heck is this?" Raph let out a shocked laugh at what he saw. There was a total of three trash bags worth of clothes, shoes, and books. But what was more surprising was seeing Mikey leaning against the sewer wall reading 'Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies'.

"Hey! It's actually a good read." Mikey shut the book and plopped it back on top of the pile in the bag next to him. Donatello rolled his eyes and turned on his bugging scanner. As he started scanning Pyra's stuff, he noticed something was absent.

"Where's Leo at?"

"Oh. He went ahead to see if the Cave was still in commission." Mikey smiled as he relayed the news. "I figured that would be a good place for Pyra to stay. Still within a stone's throw of us without having to directly live with four guys."

"Have you been eating your Wheaties lately?" Donnie looked his brother up and down. "Because I swear your brain has been coming up with one or two good ideas lately."

"Ha ha. Funny." Mikey stuck his tongue out at Donnie, but the smile stayed on his face. He was just happy to have gotten some form of approval from his brothers.

"Sorry I'm late." Leo came running up from the south pipe. "Did Mikey tell you his idea?"

"Yep. Pretty solid if you ask me." Donnie finished his scan on the bags. "Looks clean. Do we just want to drop this at the Cave before heading back?"

"We'll take care of it. You get on back to Pyra." Leo picked up one bag, tossing another one at Raph.

Donnie nodded towards his brothers before jogging back towards the lair. As he stepped inside, he quickly noticed that Pyra was not in her bed in the Med-Bay. _'Don't panic, Donnie. Master Splinter wouldn't let her out of here without a fight.' _He then walked around towards the kitchen and noticed that the swinging door was closed. Before he could push the door open a voice behind him stopped his movement.

"She said she needed to wash up. Not many other places with clean running water down here." Master Splinter was sitting directly across from the kitchen door, keeping his eyes fixed on it.

"Thank you for the warning, Master." Donnie stepped back from the door and run-walked towards his father. He didn't want to get hit by Pyra for 'peeking in' on her. "How was she?"

"A little restless, but she was able to eat some soup and moistened bread and keep it down." Splinter sighed and looked up at his son. "You look like a very tightly wound spring, Donatello. What happened out there?"

As Donnie retold his side of the night's experience, his brother's walked in, sans bags. Leo then told Master Splinter about their plan to move Pyra into the Cave next door. He nodded, stating that was an excellent plan. This way, they could all check in on her in a second's notice, if needed.

"It wasn't my idea, for once." Leo joked as he grabbed Mikey in a headlock. "This one here had the brilliant idea all on his own."

"Yep. I can come up with good ideas every once in a..." Mikey's words fell off as he looked over Donnie's shoulder. "Woah. You look different, girl." The wide eyed stares from his brothers made Donatello turn to see what they were looking at.

In the doorway stood a diminutive girl of only five foot two, soaking wet. She had decided to wear a grey crew neck shirt with long sleeves paired with a set of pale pink quarter sweatpants. But what was impressive was her silver hair that was braided over her shoulder. At the moment, she was looking at the floor, to avoid the stares that were being thrown in her direction. Leo was the first one to pipe up in the awkward silence.

"How did you get all the red out of your hair that quick?" Here, Pyra smiled and tossed a small white bottle his way. It was labeled 'Color Zap' and was guaranteed to get color out of one's hair in a single five hour treatment.

"Impressive." Leo rolled the bottle between his hands. "Now. How is your voice doing?" Here, Pyra shook her head sadly. It was indicative that she still could not speak, but it was certainly evident that her muscles were doing well, seeing as she could stand on her own.

"For eight days of lying in bed, you're not showing any major muscle loss." Donnie noted. Once the words slipped out, he looked over at Mikey. "Don't you DARE say anything to that!" Mikey quickly shut his mouth with a big grin.

Pyra smiled and shook her head. A loud gurgling sound suddenly issued through the room and she pressed her hand into her stomach. That got a good laugh out of everyone and broke the tension in the room.

"I think Miss Pyra might be a little bit hungry." Master Splinter stated as he stood up. "I have a feeling pizza may be in order. Is there anything you're adverse to?" Pyra shook her head no. "Alright. Anchovies and mushrooms it is!"

"Oh, c'mon, Master!" The boys groaned in displeasure as Pyra wrinkled her nose in agreement. Splinter laughed and headed off to get the usual pizzas.

"Let an old rat get a good joke in once in a while!" he said as he slipped out of the room. Pyra shook her head with a smile on her face. She then pulled a small flip notebook out of her back pocket and wrote a note down before flipping it for the guys to read.

_Is he normally like that?_

"When he isn't kicking our butts in training, yeah. He has a strange sense of humor." Mikey smiled at Pyra. "It really is good to see you up and moving around. Though I gotta confess: I thought you were taller than that."

Pyra giggled as she wrote a single word: _Heels._

"That's right. We always saw you in the job. Even when I first found you, you had heels on." Donatello stated. Granted, he thought she looked a lot cuter in her smaller state, but he wasn't going to say that out loud.

"Well, while Master Splinter is away, why don't we go check out your room? See if we need to make some adjustments or not." Leo motioned for Pyra to follow them. As his brothers guided the girl to her new surroundings, Donnie hung back and observed the girl as she smiled at the attempts of his brothers to try and get her to laugh. She threw a glance over her shoulder at him and gave him a private smile before turning her attentions to one of Mikey's repetitive tales.

'_She certainly is something. Reminds me of those silver foxes I saw on the Discovery channel one time.'_ And that was when the new nickname was born.

'_My little silver haired fox. Always wanted one.'_ Donnie shook his head at his foolishness before picking up his stride to follow the others. He couldn't lie to himself, but he could certainly lie to everyone else.

Or so he thought.

**End Ch. 5**


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